476 replies to this topic

[Racehatch]

Very cool, I like the way you are going about getting the most out of your current setup, its a nice change from people who just chuck money at it and hope it will go better..

I couldnt see any detail on the engine spec, I assume its a conventional 23 deg chev? Or are the 18deg GM motorsport heads in your profile pic a clue..?

cheers,

Sam

[Struggler]

Very cool, I like the way you are going about getting the most out of your current setup, its a nice change from people who just chuck money at it and hope it will go better..

I couldnt see any detail on the engine spec, I assume its a conventional 23 deg chev? Or are the 18deg GM motorsport heads in your profile pic a clue..?

cheers,

Sam

Hi Sam,
the head in my avatar is a Phase 2 034 Bowtie 23 degree cast iron unit (Casting number 14011034), I have a professionally ported pair of them gathering dust in my ceiling space. I haven't got around to fitting them yet, still having too much fun with this combo.

I guess I haven't really put up the specs since starting on this build so here you go....

Its a 400 2 bolt block with ARP main studs and a factory steel 350 crank giving it a capacity of about 379 cubic inches with the 0.040" overbore. Rods are Eagle SIR, pistons are KB Hyper flat tops and I machined the heads down to give exactly 11.00:1 comp with zero deck height. Cam is a Lunati solid with 248/254 @ 050 on 106 LSA. Heads are ported Dart Sportsman II's with the supplied valves and springs. It has a mismatched set of Crane Energizer and YT roller rockers and an old Victor Junior. The carb currently on it is a 830 Annular Discharge Holley but it ran identical numbers with my Proform bodied 750 Vac but I keep loaning the vac out and the 830 owes me more $$ so I feel guilty not using it. Trans is a Powerglide with an Accelerator 4000rpm 9.5" stall convertor. The engine has been in my last 3 cars and hasn't had any real attention (I checked valve clearances once !) for the last 3 or 4 years. The only reason I am running a 377 is because my old 350 wore out and I needed to bore it and buy pistons. I had the 400 block under the bench and as the KB flat tops weighed about the same as my old TRW 350 forgies I just swapped the whole lot over into the bigger bore block using some bearing spacers, I didn't even balance it.

[Racehatch]

Hi Sam,
the head in my avatar is a Phase 2 034 Bowtie 23 degree cast iron unit (Casting number 14011034), I have a professionally ported pair of them gathering dust in my ceiling space. I haven't got around to fitting them yet, still having too much fun with this combo.

Ah yes, sorry I was thinking of the 10134363 - I really need to get some glasses...

Thats a pretty stout combo, looking forward to hearing more on how you develop it!

[Struggler]

Last week I made up a carb isolation plate out of an old 14" air cleaner base, some sheet aluminium and some pinchweld. I also extended the bowl vent tubes to get them out of the air flow inside the scoop. Loaded it back on the trailer and took it to the track on Friday night.

First pass was a 11.01 at 122.7. As it was a ANDRA test and tune I was able to drop off the pipes at the collectors. The exhaust I was using was a dual 2 1/2" into a single 3 1/2" with a Hooker Aerochamber muffler. This pass felt sluggish off the line as if it really needed more stall speed. Stopped the clocks at 11.22 at 123.5. What this tells me is that the exhaust is costing some HP (about 8) but seems to help the poor extractors by producing more midrange torque (about 20 ftlbs !!). Disgusted I put the exhaust back on and ran another 11.0 at 122.5 MPH. 123.5 is enough MPH to run about a 10.8, highlighting the fact I really need more converter.

Thats enough racing for now, I'm going to fit some 3.25 gears and my methanol carb for the Burnout Warriors in 2 weeks time at Wakefield Park. After that I will look at doing something with the extractors and see what a difference that makes, then again I might swap the torque converter and see if I can push these pathetic pipes to a ten !!

[Struggler]

As promised I fitted the 3.25 centre and $200 eBay methanol carb, drained the fuel and filled the tank with methanol. Loaded it up on the trailer, packed up Mum and the kids and headed off to the Burnout Warriors Motorfest at Wakefield Park.

It was a good day, very sunny and a little unorganized but everyone got as much track time as they wanted (including 77ChevLX in the newly aquired HB) and some cruising of the circuit to boot.

It took me a couple of goes to come to grips with the new car and its narrow rear track but I had a bit of fun. I somehow attracted the attention of some Grunt Files type TV crew (I think they were called Wheel Power TV and hope to broadcast on Channel 31 next year) and got interviewed and took the commentator on my third and last effort. Luckily I got it all together and gave him a fair old ride, demolishing a brand new pair of 205/65R15's. At the end of the day this was enough to take out the Tuff Street category winning a nice trophy and $500 cash.



Got the car home, drained the tank and refilled with PULP, ran it for a few minutes and swapped carbs back over. Next week I hope to swap the gears back to the race set and fit the new converter. I will then return to WSID for another meeting before changing the pipes and exhaust to something a bit better. I might give it a bit of a rest for a while as I am about ready to swap the 202 in my VH S/LE out for a HQ headed 304 short which I might post up as a project as well. It should be worth looking at.

[Heath]

Looks like a lot of fun Struggler!

Can't go wrong with $500 cash prize, just make you even more keen to bring it out again lol

[Struggler]

Good stuff Andrew Great photo of the beast in action...

I see burnout Warriors has not changed then because the time I went to watch them they were totally disorganised and used dangerous practices...One photographer came very close to being wipe out...Not good for the sport if something like that happens. Plus they left a lot of tyre debris on the track between runs which was not good to see. I guess the more events Simbad runs the better the events will get.

Congratulations on the prize, cash awards come in handy

Cheers
Herne

Hi Alan, hope you had a great time in Tassie !!
Thanks for the kind words.
In all honesty that side of it was still the same (media a bit close to the action) but Simbad tries really hard to put on a good show and has taken note of the concerns. He said he had more than double the entries this year but only about 10 or 20 more spectators. Next time he promises to launch a media assault locally and really promote it.

Sounds like a good day out. Looking forward to this new show they have in the works,
C31 have a few good car shows already.

They do. These blokes looked pretty keen and promised to focus on the little guys rather than the outfits with large budgets. If it all goes ahead it should be worth watching.

Looks like a lot of fun Struggler!

Can't go wrong with $500 cash prize, just make you even more keen to bring it out again lol

When you sit down and work out how much the day costs in fuel, tyres, food etc it can really add up but it makes it all worthwhile to take something home for a change !!

Edited by Struggler, 20 November 2009 - 06:49 PM.

[Struggler]

Looks like you had a ball mate hope to catch up with soon

Thanks LJ, looking forward to it !!

Unorginised or not s**t i had some fun Al, i know struggler did as well I wish i went in the cruise!!! but had to leave due to other commitments. It was worth the money though

By the way did you figure out who that TV mob were??? They have some footage i would like to see of my car

Hi Callum, I wondered where you got to !! I'm not really sure who they were but will be catching up with Simbad this weekend and will find out (I am keen to get some video of my last run). Will let you know.

Great stuff Struggler, congrats on the trophy and the loot...

Cheers, H

Thanks mate !!

[Struggler]

Hi YIHOON, good to see you back !!

A friend just let me know there is some video of BOWM3 on Youtube, here is a link to the first effort, as you can see I had a few problems keeping it on the straight and narrow !! It doesn't look too bad but the track definately fell away left to right.



The third burnout was the money run, haven't seen any footage of that one yet.

[Struggler]

I thought it was about time for an update......

I haven't really touched the car since November. Too much on with kids/Christmas etc. However I was lucky enough to score an invitation to the Ultimate Burnout Challenge http://www.tubc.com.au/ in March so I might leave the car with the burnout gears and converter for a while yet. I am hoping to get the front changed over to HQ pattern before then and fit some matching rims in 15x4. While doing this I may also lose the booster and make some changes to the brakes.

As an aside, the TV crew wandering the shows at the moment now have their website up and should be screening next month. http://powerwheelstv...au/homepage.htm

[Struggler]

Well I changed the front to HQ pattern and got a pair of 15x4 Challengers to match the rears.

I ended up getting undrilled Torana discs and getting them drilled to HQ patt. and fitting 1/2" studs. I also got the calipers rebuilt and fitted a small bore master cylinder with no booster.

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I now have the room to fit some exhaust through the inner guards and hopefully not scorch everything !

Anyway I got my act toghether and got down to the Ultimate Burnout Challenge. Unfortunately it did not end well. The engine developed a bearing issue and broke No. 5&6 conrods. This happened in an instant, one sec it was doing 6700 next, zero. The result was not really spectacular but nonetheless a bit devastating. You can see it all happen here....

That little thing you see roll out of the engine bay is actually my cam plug from the rear of the engine. It was knocked out when a rod broke the cam and pushed the last part of it backwards in the block. Anyway I dragged it home and pulled it apart.The block, crank, rods, pistons, sump and camshaft are all destroyed. The heads have a few bent valves but otherwise survived OK.

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As for the future ? Not really sure right now. I do have a collection of bits and pieces but not enough to build a complete engine. I'm still contemplating my next move but I did try this on for size before pulling the engine out......

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[LXCHEV]

Great burnout footage! Saw it on MCF, very impressive. Sorry to hear about the damage though, but heck, it looked like you had fun breaking it at least

PS. The blower gets a tick of approval from me

[Struggler]

Here are some other forum members at the Ultimate Burnout Challenge.....

MYLJ....

and LXV8.....

LXV8 took a place in the top 20 and both of them should be congratulated on their efforts

Edited by Struggler, 23 March 2010 - 07:58 PM.

[fatslr]

Sad to see the damage to your engine but as said earlier looks like you had fun doing it

Great footage of critta and LXV8 It makes me wonder about pursuit rims on torries after reading the thread about commodore wheels on HQ stud pattern?

Looks like they are ok to me if "clearanced" for HQ hubs i will be running them on my hatch for rego.

hope you can rebound from "bearing issue"

Garth

[Evan]

Very impressive burnouts guys!!

You really destroyed that motor sturggler, but you did it in ultimate style!!

Will be certainly watching this space to see whats next.

Ev.